Colonialism Well And Alive In The Pacific: KelseyScoop Monday, 14 June 2004, 8:52 amPress Release: Pacific Media Watch By
Shobna Decloitre
ROTORUA, NZ (Wansolwara Online/Pacific
Media Watch):Colonialism
is still part of the Pacific even
though most Pacific island countries are independent, says a
New Zealand academic. Professor Jane Kelsey says this form
of colonialism is imposed through economic development
models. The Auckland University academic was speaking at a
conference organised this week by the Action Research and
Education Network of Aotearoa (Arena), a New Zealand
NGO."Colonialisation continues in the models of
development that are being sold through a masquerade of
trade," she told some 60 people gathered at the Hurunga
Marae.
The conference is being held as an alternative
conference to the Pacific Island Forum Economic Ministers
Meeting in Rotorua, New Zealand.
Prof Kelsey is the author
of the controversial "Big Brothers Behaving Badly" report.
In this she accuses Australia and New Zealand of blackmail
and coercion during free trade negotiations with island
nations. She was referring to two regional free trade
agreements - Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement
(PICTA) and the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic
Relations (PACER). She repeated her accusation that the
agreements were negotiated in secrecy, urging Pacific people
to stand up against the trade deals. PICTA calls for free
trade among island countries excluding Australia and New
Zealand while PACER is inclusive of the two
countries. Prof Kelsey said imposing the capitalist model
on Pacific island economies could spell disaster for their
communities. They will continue to have coups and
uprising of all sorts if the economic model that is being
imposed by the leaders continues to be implemented. She
said Pacific people needed to mobilise themselves and make
their voices heard regarding decisions that are made about
them in a globalised world.Annette Sykes, a Maori
activist and lawyer, saidglobalisation was fast replacing
traditional memories of the Pacific people. "Children now
recognise the big 'M' that is colonialisation, that is
the displacement of values."
Another speaker, Professor
Vijay Naidu, formerly of the University of the South Pacific
and currently with Victoria University, said one could not
speak about the Pacific without speaking about
colonialisation. He said it was the colonial powers that
got the Pacific countries involved in the modern
economy.
"All self-sufficient Pacific island economies
were prised open by the colonising countries and linked to
the world economy.
"They began consuming things that they
did not produce and producing things that they did not
consume.
"This was the beginning of the dependency
syndrome, said Prof Naidu.